Was Mrs Shelly the only person to upgrade a cabin

T

Tarn Stephanos

Member
If you get the chance, read 2nd class survivor Mrs Imanita Shelly's testimony in the US Senate Titanic hearings. The woman did nothing but complain- she claimed her cabin was too small, the heat was too low, the food was too cold, the bathrooms were unfinished,etc. She seemed to be the proverbial sourpuss. She was eventually upgraded into a larger 2nd class cabin, but didnt like that one either. She claimed to have paid for the best "second class" cbain. Seems she was somehow expecting first class quarters. Yet she would have nothing but parise for the behavior of the crew during the sinking.

*Any know her original cabin #; and the # of the larger cabin she upgraded into? )(which she found disapointing as well)

*And was Mrs Shelly the only person we know that changed cabins? Any other examples?

Thanks

regards

Tarn Stephanos
 
Cabin assignment information seems to be rather hard to come by. Other then the memories of the surviving crew and passengers, the only direct documentary evidence of passenger cabin assignments is incomplete list found on the recovered body of steward Herbert Cave. If there was ever a complete list anywhere, my bet is that it followed the Titanic to the bottom.

Mrs. Shelly's complaints aren't much of a surprise. As a brand new ship fresh out of the yards, the Titanic would have had a lot of bugs in her, to say nothing of incomplete work that remained to be done.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart
 
There were others in first class the took the opportunity to upgrade cabins.

These are completely off the top of my head, so there may be others.

Countess of Rothes and Gladys Cherry
W. T. Stead
H. Molson
possibly Lambert Williams
Beattie and McCaffry
Arthur Gee
Howard Case

There may well be others that I cannot think of.

Daniel.
 
Hi Charles,

It is indeed possible that Cavendish may have obtained an upgrade. It is equally likely, however, that the party are listed erroneously as having occupied C-46 in the cave list - the cabin does not appear large enough to accomodate the party of three.

Either they ontained an upgrade to a higher deck on the grounds of Mrs. Cavendish's seasickness, which is what her son, Henry Seigal Cavendish always believed, or else they were never in C-46 and the list should perhaps have read B-46?.

Other passengers who *may* have chosen to upgrade include Francis Millet and Emil Brandies. In his letter from Queenstown, Millet mentions large windows and refers to the tandem style of the cabin, indicating a forward B-deck cabin. Therefore, it appears that either Millet shared B-38 with Maj. Butt (likely, as B-38 and E-38 look similar on paper) or he obtained an upgrade to a B-deck cabin.

Emil Brandies may have upgraded from B-10 to a suite further aft, or else he was there already (as the high price he paid would suggest).

Best Regards,
Ben
 
On the point of Millet. I don't think he shared with Butt. It is clear he was no on E deck (from his letter). Perhaps he might have moved to a cabin near Butt (such as B32) or else he is referring to another cabin of a similar arrangement.

Daniel.
 
Daniel wrote: "It is clear he was no on E deck..." Daniel! I didn't know you were Scottish!

How about upgrading from Third Class to Second? Nils Johansson and his fiancé Olga Lundin, both had booked third class passages but (it was later claimed), because she could not stand the sea, Nils paid extra to have Olga moved to second class.

Best regards,
Cook
 
the duff gordons upgraded from 2nd class to 1st class either before they were aboard or just after as they found that people of "their circle" were booked in 1st class. it is a very unknown fact.
 
David, do you have a primary source which verifies that? I've seen no one scrap of evidence anywhere to support that and these people were not in the habit of traveling that way. For the record, she was known to have boarded with her husband and maid at Cherbourg with Lucy and the maid 17485 which cost £56 18s 7d. The source for this information as offered in Her ET Biography is the Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
 
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